Sunday, August 16, 2009

So, I just finished doing edits on my second novel - title as yet unknown - three years, three months and two days after the release of my first novel, "The Crickets' Serenade."  Now, thirty nine months between works might not seem that long to some people when you have authors like Harper Lee who, since publishing "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 1960, has yet to publish another novel, so that's like...49 years and counting?  But then again, she published "To Kill A Mockingbird."  If I had written that, I might have stopped too.  Just taken off to Bora Bora, opened a bar on a beach, and watched my residual checks floating in.  I mean, how do you top that?  That's like scoring an academy award in your first role...might as well move on to something else like oyster farming or cake decorating after that.  

But then you have people like Stephen King who seems to put out a major work in what seems like every three weeks and I'm thinking, "I'm a slacker."  Now, I could have probably finished this thing in twelve months, but that would have meant no hemming and hawing and very little of the dreaded "P" word - procrastination - involved.  and I "p'd" a lot.  I p'd whenever I got wind of a wine tasting, or a new tequila bar, a "Sex and the City" marathon, a "Planet of the Apes" marathon, any new reality show starring a not so attractive former rapper/rocker. I "p'd" whenever my friend Consuelo invited me over for a Yankees vs. Red Sox clash and stood there chugging as many Red Stripes as possible.  As if it wasn't bad enough I was taking four hours off to watch the oh so fast paced game of baseball, I needed another four to recuperate from my inebriation, guaranteeing that once again, there would be not a word written.   

But despite sporting events, drinking fests, laughably bad dates, an attempt at adapting my first novel into a script (surprisingly difficult), a good 1/2 hour comedy script, an attempt at a bad feature script...Sorry, scrap that.  I didn't attempt to write a bad feature script.  I attempted to write a good one, but I strayed and it went horribly wrong, morphing into something called "Choose," of which a friend was quick to inform me that I had somehow unwittingly managed to combine Saw I, II, III, IV & V into one script.  Nice!  I say "unwittingly" because I've never seen any of the "Saw" films.  Add to all that a terminal illness to my dad and the dreaded day job, but I somehow managed to finish novel number two.  I wish I had been blogging at the start of that process, because it was a divine comedy of errors, but I'm starting now, as I sit here poised and bursting for great success with Novel #2, my untitled masterpiece - never mind the fact I no longer have a book agent and must flee my current publishers (that story to come later).  For the moment, I've gone from procrastinating writer mode to must-network-query-sell myself and my work-mode, while still working crazy day job (more on that later), managing a slight case of adult ADD, trying to find Mr. Right...and not settle for Mr. Not Totally and Completely Wrong But Could Do Better...starting on my next project and trying to start up a business venture.  Biting off more than I can chew?  I don't know.  I am Jamaican, and we're the champions of multitasking.  I know there'll be those nail biting, what the heck am I doing, really don't wanna get out of bed, am I really a talented writer, damn - I need some tequila moments, but it's part of being a creative being, I guess, and I would never trade that part of myself for anything.

Carolita

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